Diamond in the Rough
by Anime-is-mi-life
Summary: so this came from an idea from i dream i had... the setting is in a secluded part of the world where people can life without society. It's like feudal world. SoulxMaka, Black StarxTsubaki, SteinxOC rated t for later in the story... though it may become
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**Author's Note: I do not claim to own soul eater in anything other than my wildest dreams... all credit goes to Atsushi Okubo, the original author (possibly a god among manga authors/artists)**

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Prologue

The screams of a baby girl could be heard all throughout the village. In a hut made of brick walls, a ceiling made of straw supported by lumber blocks. A fire smolders in the corner away from the door and in the center of the room is a straw mat that has been pushed there. A woman, the village healer, sits to the side, scrubbing her hands and the bloodied cloths as a woman sits, holding her baby with her husband sitting by her, his eyes fixed on the child. The young wife's platinum blond hair shone, her beige skin covered with sweat and grime, her emerald eyes staring down, meeting a set of eyes identical to hers. She smiles as her young daughter's frail hand reaches out to grasp her husband's finger, squeezing down on it. Her husband's eyes glistened with love and compassion as their daughter reached up to his face and suddenly yanked at a strand of his burgundy hair. The healer woman, Medusa, turned to the young couple, banishing all looks of disgust at this happy sentiment. She smiled at them as they stared lovingly down at their child.

"May I ask what the child's name shall be?" Medusa asked, fake happiness in her voice. The wife ,Kami's, eyebrows furrowed as she considered many possibilities. Spirit stared down at his wife, confused.

"I… I'm not sure," Kami finally said. "But I know it has to be befitting for our little girl." She looked up at her husband who shook his head. He had absolutely no clue in anything related to this. Kami pursed her lips in absolute thought. All was silent in the hut. Several minutes later, Kami's eyes flashed bright. "How about Maka?" she said.

"Maka?" Spirit asked unsure.

"Yes… Maka. That's lovely," Medusa said to the woman as she gathered up her things and began walking out of the hut. "I'm terribly sorry, but I must be leaving now," she said as she walked out. As soon as she was out of earshot of the hut, her eyes gained the urge to kill. Her mouth twisted into a grimace as she kept walking, the snake tattoo on her arm coming to life and twisting around on her arm, the tiny snakes coming out of her hands. "I absolutely despise children," she said as she continued walking. Emerging from the shadows of a nearby hut came Medusa's best snake, a case in its mouth. Seeing Medusa approach, it slithered over to her and coiled itself around her shoulders. Medusa reached up and stroked it as she grabbed the case. Grinning, she laughed evilly.

Her lips broke into an evil smile, the tiny snakes coming from her mouth."Shall we begin the experiment?"

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**Author's End Notes**

**Soul: wow... totally uncool**

**Black Star: NOT RIGHT! I'M NOT EVEN IN IT! ME! THE MAN WILL SURPASS GOD! NOT IN THIS CHAPTER!**

**Misaki: Ok.. yeah.. i get it... it was kinda lame... **

**Death the Kidd: it's an unsymmetrical amount of words -freaks out-**

**Soul: totally uncool**

**Misaki: but it'll get better in the next chapters!**

**Soul: that's if we let you make it to the next chapters**

**Misaki: wait... what -backs into corner-**

**Black Star: ATTACK!!!**

**Misaki: YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME!!!! -throws down smoke bomb, smoke screen comes up-**

**-smoke clears, in the center where Misaki was sitting is a completely symmetrical black cat- **

**Misaki: meow**

**Kidd: YOU'RE SYMMETRICAL! **

**Soul: so? attack!**

**Kidd: DON'T TOUCH THE SYMMETRY!!!!! -begins shooting at them-**

**-a war goes out between the three guys-**

**Misaki: -still in cat form- hahahahaha... men. they think they're in control... BUT IT IS I WHO RULES THE AUTHOR'S END NOTES!!!!!!**

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**Don't press the button below**

**if you do the world will explode **

**if you do you will die**

**didn't i tell you not to touch the button**

**if you touch the button heaven will explode**

**damn... there goes heaven**

**fine**

**every time you touch the button one level of hell explodes**

**1st**

**2nd**

**3rd**

**4th**

**5th**

**6th**

**7th**

**8th**

**oops you just destroyed all of hell**

**now there's nowhere else**

**except maybe limbo**

**nope you destroyed that too**

**now all there is is white nothingness**

**oops now it's black**

**blue**

**pink**

**red**

**green**

**purple**

**silver**

**yellow**

**orange**

**oops now it's rainbow**

**you know what fine**

**just press the button**

**see if i care**

**oh now you stop**

**so when i say not to press the button you do but when i tell you to you stop?**

**fine frig you**

**press the button or not**

**i don't care**

**SERIOUSLY! JUST PRESS THE BUTTON AND LEAVE ME A REPLY!**

**XD**

**Misaki: i hope you enjoyed my random babble at the end... i would appreciate any reviews and some encouragement to write next chapter and such (i don't even mind productive criticism). have a great day. BYE!**


	2. Chapter 2 Author's Note

**Author's Notice**

**I'm sorry to anyone reading this story, but I'm not going to be able to update it for a little while longer. My English teacher volunteered me (against my own will) for an essay contest on Hale's "A Man Without A Country." Also, I need to study for my Science Olympiad competition which is in 2 more weeks. And I need to discuss with my counselor all about my schedule for next year. And I need to try and get my reading log (yes this sounds like for a little grade schooler assignment but my teachers assign it anyways XD) done and I have to read a biography this time. I hate history so this may take awhile. Also, my computer continues to crash and my mother won't let me use my other computer (she thinks that I should read up about colleges if I have free time). There are also a whole bunch of other reasons (some call them excuses) to why I won't be updating for a while, so I apologize in advance to everyone reading this story that I won't be able to update for awhile. (Just so you know… I had the next 4 chapters written but mi computer crashed and it lost all my writing… so I hasta rewrite it… sorry!!!!) Don't worry though… I'm going to be up and writing as soon as possible but I'm just warning you that that may not be for another 2 weeks after my competition. I'm sorry to you all who have been patiently waiting but I must ask you to continue waiting patiently for a bit longer. Thank you for your patients and I hope you don't give up on me and this story just because of my busy school life. **

**My apologies,**

**Misaki**

**(Feel free to comment and yell at me for my incompetence and how idiotic and foolish and selfish and whatever else it is you want to call me, I'm sure I deserve it 10 times over.)**


	3. Chapter 3 The Book and The Abduction

**Disclaimer: ok. Just to get this straight in every single person's delusional minds. Including my own. I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS! Though I'm probably going to be putting my OC into this story **

**Ok everyone just so you know. I **_**italicize **_**the thoughts that characters have so yeah!**

**Oh also… the sun only laughs when something bad happens and the moon only bleeds when someone is murdered.**

**Enjoy!**

Years later

"Maka~chan!!!!"

Groaning internally, Maka looked up from the spot she was squatting in by dirt which she had previously been writing in and found herself staring into the eyes of her father. _Oh great. The buffoon returns. _Maka dropped the twig she had been using to carve into the gravel with and stood up, brushing dirt off of her course, black skirt and scratchy light brown shirt. As she looked up, her father's large arms reached around and enveloped her into a fatherly embrace. He swung her around and around, her vision a swirl of the village, the road, and the forest blurring together in a dizzying swirl of color. When he finally set her down, she teeter on her feet until her vision cleared and she was staring at the dark, shadowy edge of the forest. The signs of a massive headache were beginning to show. The vein on Maka's forehead pulsed and she chopped him on the head with her fist.

"Maka Chop"

Rubbing his head, Spirit gazed at his daughter, her platinum blonde hair blowing to her side, carried by the wind. Her bright, emerald green eyes staring at him impatiently. _So… CUTE!!!_

"What do you want, Spirit?" Maka asked, her eyes narrowing as she gazed up at her father. Her eyes widened as he produced a large object, wrapped in the same material as her clothes, and held it out in front of her.

"Happy fifteenth birthday baby!" Spirit's eyes shined with pride at his amazing fatherly knowledge of his daughter as she hurriedly tugged the bundle from his hands and tore it open greedily. Inside lay one worn, battered book as long as the young girl's forearm and as wide as her waist. The young girl's eyes shined with joy as she tenderly flipped open the cover and gazed at the title of the book.

" The Complete Recordings of the battle of Thermoplyae. Including vivid accounts from the soldiers who fought against the Persian army. " Maka read, her eyes filled with wonder. "I've never seen such a big book papa. How did you manage to find it?" She said, her eyes lifting to her father's face with both joy and suspicion in her eyes.

"That's of no concern to you, baby. Now you just go and enjoy yourself. Papa has to do some work right now," Spirit said, his eyes distant. Maka never lost the look of worry, but her curiosity completely enveloped her and she walked off with the bundle clutched tightly against her chest, often looking back at her father until she turned on the road and was out of view.

Sighing, Spirit turned towards the shadows of the forest's edge, his eyes scrutinizing each shade of darkness until his eyes fixed on one spot. He walked towards that spot and stopped just on the edge of the shadows and the light. "Are you sure this if for the best?" Spirit asked, his voice skeptical.

"But of course," a woman said, her voice seductive as she walked, her hips swaying rhythmically to the edge of the shadows. Cloaked in a sleek black dress with a hood that fitted her body like a second skin, she reached her pale hand up and lifted the hood, revealing her yellow, blonde head of hair. Her dark eyes flashed at him as she scanned him up and down like a predator to its prey, "you don't want your precious daughter living this life right? She's beautiful, but she's force to wear the tattered clothes of a peasant. Her bright mind is going to waste in this land where the most challenging thing you could learn is farm work. Where her quick wit is reduced to a tool that can talk the butcher into giving up scraps for yours and her own dinners. She has so much potential, but it's all going to a waste here in this god forsaken wasteland. Do you really want her to live here for the rest of her life. Or are you just waiting until she leaves. Just like Kami-san?" The woman said all this in a cold, calculating tone, hitting Spirit nerve by nerve. By the end of her speech, he was flinching.

"No," he said, his voice little more than a choked whisper.

"Of course not. You know this is best. Just don't screw it up," she said, her eyes narrowing at him. "Leave. Before your stupidity ruins this chance. Remember, this is the only chance your daughter has for a better life." Reaching out her hand, she held it just so that it was out of the light, open, waiting for him to take it.

Spirit's face went blank, emotionless as he reached out and grabbed her hand. A dark smile spread across her face, a small dark snake shooting out of her mouth, others wrapping around her arms as she grasped Spirit's hand tight and pulled them both into the surrounding darkness.

The sun was laughing the whole time.

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Hours Later

Maka sat cross legged in the middle of a meadow, her head bent over the book her father had given her for her birthday. As one hand gently caressed the words on the page, her other hand twirled a flower round and round.

The meadow was beautiful, filled with flowers of various colors and species. Absinthe Woodworm, Adder's Mouth, Agalinis, Alpine Goldenrod, Alsike Clover, Amaranth, and other flowers in shades of blues, greens, yellows, reds, oranges, purples, and white littered the dark green grass of the meadow. This meadow was a sanctuary hidden well into the heart of the forest. Here, a bubbling brook ran, miniature waterfalls running around. The stream was surrounded by smooth pebbles that comprised the bottom of the water. The pebbles turned to sand, the sand to grass, the grass to flowers and in the center of the flowers sat Maka. The meadow itself was the shape of a perfect eight, the dark forest surrounding the meadow in all directions. In short, the view was breathtaking.

But Maka's eyes were glued onto the book held in her hands. Her eyes raked over the page, her forefingers slid the page over and she continued to read. A smile broke on her face as she continued reading. A moment later, a chilling breeze ran through the meadow, causing Maka to shiver. Looking up, she could see the sun was slowly closing its eyes, the light was dimming slightly and the shadows were growing longer. Any later and she wouldn't have been able to navigate her way back home. Not that it would have been the first time she had slept overnight in the meadow.

But today was her birthday. And as much as she wanted to deny it, Maka really wanted to spend the rest of the day with her father. So getting back onto her wobbly legs, Maka slowly made the way back home, slowly struggling to get blood flow back to her legs.

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Walking into the village, Maka briskly walked along the dirt path. She had only learned how long she had been in the meadow after the sun had fallen as she was still navigating through the very last part of the second half way through the forest. Panicking, she knew she could not stay in the woods much longer unless she wanted to run into the psychotic maniacs with kishin-egg souls on her way back. So she had ran blindly, something her rational mind would have never let her do before. But for some reason, tonight she felt out of wits and jumpy. So against her better judgment, she desperately tried to pick her way out of the forest.

Fortunately, luck was at her side as she finally picked her way out of the forest and found herself on the familiar dirt trail. Running as fast as she could, she continued to glance back behind her, expecting something to jump out at her until she reached the village. As soon as she reached the first light of the huts, she slowed to a brisk walk. All her senses were on overload, she was at her most alert at that night. Her mind raced, remembering the few self-defense moves her father had taught her and the other ones that she had read about herself. Just as she was nearing the door to her hut, a hand reached out and grabbed her.

Her mind kicked into overdrive. Grasping the wrist with both arms, she slid underneath the person's body twirling, adding pressure to the arm. There was a whimper as she pulled the arm back, using her leg to kick the other person's legs out from under them. There was a thud and a whoosh as the air was struck out of the person's lungs. When Maka's mind finally cleared enough to look at the "attacker" 's face, she was shocked to see the face of her friend Chrona. The poor girl's pink hair was smugged with dirt and her clothes were covered in dust. Slowly, Maka picked the other girl up and shook the dust off of her.

"Chrona… I'm s-…" Maka said, halted when Chrona put her hand over her mouth, her eyes wild and crazed. She had gone into one of her fits of madness.

"Hide the book. They want the book. But you can't give it to them. Don't let them have the book. Never let them touch the book. Don't be fooled. The book. The book. The booooook." The young girl whispered, her voice trailing off. She staggered off, her steps wild and unpredictable, her stride swaying from side to side. She stalked off towards the forest and was devoured by the shadows of the surrounding hut. Maka tried to follow after the young girl, trying to tell her that her hut was the other direction, but when she walked out of the shadows of the hut, the girl was nowhere to be found. Worried, Maka pulled the book out of the cloth. The book looked little more than an old, worn out book just as it had when her father had given it to her.

But Chrona's words had made her paranoid. Chrona's predictions of pandemonium had always come true. Like when she had crazily ran through the town square screaming at the top of her lungs and the town had to forcefully stop her. When they had pinned her to the ground, she was still screaming and claw marks ran down both of her arms. When she had finally stopped yelling, she had just stared at the group with a blank expression. Then, a shudder had run through her body and even today, five years after this event, her words rang in the minds of all the towns people.

With a insane smile spread across her face, she had stared at the towns members, pointing at several people standing in the crowd as she said, "It's coming. It's almost here. It's going to kill. Going to kill you. Your skin will burn and bubble. You're going to hurt so much you're going to want to claw your eyes out. Then, you'll puke everything in your stomach. And then you'll puke more. Healers won't work. Herbs won't heal. You'll die a slow, agonizing death. And it's coming. It's coming. It's here." She said this as her voice shook and when she had finished, her eyes rolled back and she went limp, completely unconscious.

As soon as her eyes closed, the people in the crowd she had pointed to started screaming and tearing at their skin. Their skin turned red, a sick, unhealthy red and hives broke out across their bodies. Some heaved right then and there and others simple screamed, their eyes wide as they clawed into their skin.

The sun was laughing.

As Maka remembered this, she shuddered and covered the book. Sliding the book into the confines of her shirt to where it rested against her chest, she started back to her house. As she neared, she paused.

The lights were out.

It was too silent.

Slowly walking to the door, careful as to not make so much as a sound, she stopped right outside of the door.

Thunk.

The sound came from inside. It sounded like something falling. There were distant scratching sounds like metal on wood. And then the door burst open and hands grabbed her, pulling her into the dark, abandoned hut.

**End Notes**

**Misaki: haha. So how was that. I know it was more than a month since I last wrote and then I simply left that little note for you saying that I had stuff to do. I'M SORRY!!!!!! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!**

**Soul/Death the Kidd/Black Star: WHY ARE WE STILL NOT IN THIS CHAPTER?!**

**Misaki: well. You'll be in either the next or the following chapter.**

**Soul: totally not cool**

**Black Star: this story sucks because the amazing me is not in it**

**Death the Kidd: I love the meadow. IT'S SO SYMMETRICAL!!!!**

**Misaki: I know. The meadow will be coming into this later in the story**

**Death the Kidd: you must keep writing until the words are completely symmetrical**

**Misaki: um… so I have to keep writing a author's end not until it's symmetrical? **

**Death the Kidd: yes**

**Misaki: But that means I'm going to have to write over 400 more words in this thing!**

**Death the Kidd: so? **

**Misaki: dude. I don't have enough inspiration to write that much author's notes**

**Plot Bunny: I can fix that (smiles evilly)**

**Misaki: OMG! SOMEONE HELP ME!**

**-----**

**Haha this thing is still an unsymmetrical number of words. Oh well**

**I ran out of inspiration **

**Wat ever**

**Oh well **

**To make up for the great lapse in time there was from my last update I'm going to try and update within the next two weeks with the next chapter**

**I hope you enjoyed reading this**

**Ok gotta go**

**Bye!**


	4. Chapter 4 Meltdown

**Author's Note: ok, i know it's been FOREVER since i last updated but honestly, life moved on for me. and it was WAY too fast a ride. i finally found my way back thanks to the most amazing reviewer ever (aka fish-egirl) who threatened to send free-kun after me, who undoubtedly doesn't scare me, but it sent me back to reality. sorry guys it's just i'm going through some harsh times (my heart rebroke for my first love) and it took her review to send me back on track. I would like to thank any reviewers who have stuck to this story despite the huge gap in updates and my horrible writing and such. thanks you guys. i love all of you for your support. Also, in comemoration for my new start at this thing i'm going to change my pen name to Alexandra (or alex) for short**

**Disclaimer: I do not own soul eater, sadly. my ex oh so kindly threw this fact into my face when we broke up. **

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The world went into chaos when the door broke open. Arms and legs flailing, Maka blindly struck out at who or whatever was pulling her in. But all she met was air. The air in her lungs came out in a whoosh as she was slammed to the ground and before she could even think anything, she was flipped over and her arm yanked out and held in an iron grip.

"Are you Maka Albarn?" said a husk male voice coming from the person who was holding her. Maka knew from a book she had read that they had her in a judo hold and that it was useless to move - she would only hurt herself more- but she couldn't help her instinct to fight back. A squeak came out of her mouth as a flame of pain spread throughout her arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, girl. Now let me ask you again, are you Maka Albarn?"

Maka glared at the ground before her, anger at her captor for holding her, but angrier at herself with her incompetence. She couldn't even hold her own in a fight. Her vision was red with anger and she had to grit her teeth to keep from screaming obscenities at anything and everything, but managed a meager "yes" before something hit the back of her head and her world blacked out.

Maka's POV

When I awoke, the first thing I saw was a woman covered in bandages. My eyes widened and I sat up as fast as possible and moved back on what I was lying on- a bed- into the wall. My eyes darted around as I tried to take in my surroundings. I seemed to be… in a room? What the hell was I doing in a room? Especially one like this. The ceilings were high and the room about the size of my entire hut. The walls were a complete white. And not a snow white where mud and grime mix in and make it somewhat like brown mulch. No, it was the purest white imaginable, the kind a that only nature can create.

In fact, upon closer inspection, about everything in the entire room was white. It was unsettling, almost like the whole room was completely untainted, making me feel even more filthy. The smell of antiseptics in the air didn't help, instead making me crinkle my nose and feel like a caged animal. I looked at where I sat, expecting to see dirt from my clothing making marks on the white table surface, but I felt my eyes widen even more than before. The woman in bandages came closer to me and as I met her gaze all I saw was compassion and understanding in the woman's eyes. A soothing aura spread from her to me and all will to fight fled out of my system. There was no need to fight this woman. She wasn't going to harm me. And as I calmed down, it happened. It happens sometimes without warning and honestly, it scares me. I was seeing the woman, but I was also seeing her soul. It was rather pretty, with bandages surrounding it just like her body and it had no intention to hurt me. It was a very powerful soul that I sensed could cause quite a bit of damage if desired, but at that moment, she didn't have any sort of intention to harm me.

I sat completely still and stared, oblivious to the fact that the woman had moved to stand right in front of me. She smiled and handed me a mirror. "Here you go. My names Nygus. It's nice to finally meet you Maka. I know this is all shocking, but I promise everything is going to turn out fine. I'm sure it will," she said, trying to sooth me. I took the mirror, not really knowing what she wanted me to do, but then I remembered my current state of cleanliness. As I lifted the mirror up, I almost dropped it.

In the mirror was me. Except… not me? It looked like me, but the eyes, always surrounded by the ever faint sleep-deprived markings looked rested and shining like polished emeralds. Or the forest trees during a bright, lively day. The hair that was like a muddy haystack was now gleaming like golden silk, the hair hanging loose compared to my traditional pig tails. It was strange how much older it made me look. Looking down, I saw that my clothes had been replaced- how I hadn't seen that is a mystery. I was now adorned with a beautiful green dress, a few shades paler than my eyes with a cream trim to it and brown embroidery stitched in that made it look enchanting. I wore flat brown shoes that were made of silk and were fitted like a second skin. Everything about me was brand new and screamed royalty.

Except my eyes. My eyes remained the same, the only part of my body untouched by this luxurious place. No, my eyes carried the hard, calculating gaze held by those of us who were once the lowest of the low. Only those who had lived through hell and back could have. (1) It amazed me how much weight those eyes seemed to carry with them; the rest of me looked like a person floating on air, but my eyes made my gut feel hollow.

As i reassessed my appearance i suddenly felt like a stranger in my own body. This was not me, this was not what I looked like. Looking around the walls seemed to close in around me, making me feel suffocated, trapped in a white container like an animal on the way to a slaughter. My mind spun as the world tilted and condensed onto itself and I fought the very air in my throat. It was foreign, it was trying to lull me with false comforts then cut me off from breath. My vision was blurring and now all I could see was white: the white walls, the white furniture, the white floors. White, white, white.

I felt arms tangling with mine and a jabbing pain in my side as I kicked and punched out at whatever was in front of me. Something spread inside me, cold as ice and scorching as fire at the same time. where it passed all that was left was a numb sense of emptiness. And finally, my arms and legs slackened and I dipped into sweet, sweet unconsciousness.

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**Alex: ok, i know it's short, but it was all i could get out for right now. my head hurts cause i've been sick all week, i'm pmsing, i have migraines, and i need sleep. but i love you all so much that i don't want to keep you waiting any longer. already working on next chappie, might even get a short chapter (like maybe 2 page chapter) up by like 9 tonight. if not, then sometime this week. and don't worry, next chapter there will be some customary random babble. i just can't think of anything funny at the moment guys, sorry. till next time!**


	5. Chapter 5 Dreams

**Author's note: ha! got the second chappie up! told u i would (probably XD)!**

**Disclaimer: i I do not own soul eater, sadly. my ex oh so kindly threw this fact into my face when we broke up.**

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Maka POV

I was standing in a dark room, cramped and i felt a body pressed against mine. Except it was so dark i couldn't see who it was. Yet my body knew who it was even as my mind wouldn't. I leaned into him, inhaling his familiar scent: worn leather and pine leaves. It calmed me as i rested against his chest, instantly relaxing as much i could in the current situation. His hair brushed my skin and his breath tickled my neck. His warmth seeped through my clothing and helped me feel better in the dark room.

Next, i was in a different room. It had a checkered tile floor, red and black and the walls were draped with red velvet curtains. All the furniture in the room was black and there sat a black grand piano in the middle of the room. On the piano chair sat a boy with snow white hair dressed in a black suit, his back to me. Yet i knew it was the boy from the closet. His fingers absently tapped at the top of the piano. Opening the piano his fingers lovingly brushed the keys before hitting a note, the only note i knew: the G note. It resounded off the walls and pulsed through me as i recalled something i instinctively knew he had said to me. "You're a G note. Strong and present, touched with darkness, but the good in you is more prominent. But the darkness is always there, and if looked close enough, always present. That's what I like about you."

Blinking at the fondness in his voice, i found myself in yet another situation. Looking around, i wondered why the room was so blurry. Then i felt the stream of tears going down my face. WHy was i crying? Then i saw it. There was blood. Blood everywhere. It was all over me and in a puddle on the floor. And there lied the boy from my other dreams. His snow white hair tinged with the deep crimson of blood which i could only guess was coming from him. It soaked into my clothes and into my skin, warm, but slowly cooling. all i could feel from within myself was pure raw anguish as i clutched his hand forcefully, as if my touch was the only thing tethering him to this world, this life. But as i looked into his crimson eyes, the same color as his blood, i saw as the life slowly left his eyes and watched as the vibrant red dimmed and faded into a murkey version of the beautiful eyes i oh so loved. My mouth opened and I screamed his name into the night. "SOUL!"

When I awoke, i felt horrible. my throat stung and tears were running down my eyes. there was a sharp stinging in my side and there was a light so bright i couldn't see anything. Blinking back the tears, i looked away from the light and let my eyes adjust. And i saw my right arm with tubes sticking through my skin to some sort of machine that kept making an infuriating beeping noise. wait... tubes... in my ARM?

Sitting up, i started tugging at those tubes in my arm, my breathing going rapid, my eyes widening as they popped out and blood and clear liquids from the tubes started spilling out. Eyes widening even more I started trying to push the tubes back in panicking that i had done something i wasn't supposed to, something that would cause everything to go terribly wrong.

The door opened and in walked Nygus, carrying a tray of food that would have made my mouth water had i not been freaking out about gettting the tubes back into my arm. Nygus' smile died on her lips as she took in the site before her; me sitting there, eyes wide, despereately trying to cram the tubes back into my arm as i maniatically stammered "it's fine now. I fixed it"

After Nygus had gotten me all cleaned up, hte tubes taken out, changed back into the outfit i had been wearing when i had first woken up in the white room, she sat me down and explained everything. As in how i was here for a trial concerning the theft of royal property, the possession of stolen property, and aiding and abetting a felon, aka my father. I was to go for a hearing overseen by the king and the princes themselves, which was a BIG deal apparently, and if found guilty i could be sentenced to death. Whooptie freaking doo. What a thing to wake up to. And if that weren't enough, apparently my hearing was going to take place this evening. After telling me that tidbit of information, Nygus packed up her things and bid me adeau, saying that she hoped she would see me again and how she hoped i would live through this. Great.

for the next several hours, i sat staring at the white wall- i had been returned to the white room shortly after i had redressed- as i thought of what i would POSSIBLY tell my jurors in my defense. I had no idea what to do and the whole brainstorming had only been effective in making me even more high strung and nervous than i had been before i had started. Finally, a blue man with dreads came into the room, muttering about how the man he was would have done something or other as he took my arm and led me down a hallway. It was beautiful. It had high archways made of marble and it was adorned with figurines and pictures of dignified looking people. At the end of the hall we came to a solid oak door so tall it looked ridiculous yet regal at the same time. Sucking in a deep breath, the man opened the door and I walked in to my impending doom.

* * *

**Alex: ok so the whole dreaming and tube things were from my uncle. he went to the hospital two weeks ago after going into renal failure and he had a cathiter in and apparently this medicine they put him on made him go CRAZY! he kept dreaming of these two nurses and in one of his dreams they were gonna put in his cathiter, but when he looked at what they were gonna put in it was a rubber chicken with this freakishly long neck and he just kept going "that's not a cathiter! that's a rubber chicken!" they had to strap him down and now the whole hospital has some version of the story going around and now he's known as the crazy guy who got strapped down or when he walks down the hall they go, "hey did you ever find that rubber chicken" and all sort of stuff. i thought seeing as i was depressed and all last chappie that i should make it somewhat happyish... but the dreams (which ar totally foreshadowing something (maybe) if you didn't realize) kinda ruined the whole funnyness. anyways. when the nurses came in, my uncle had tugged his cathiter out and when it came out there was this popping noise and his eyes went all bug eyed and he started trying to shove it back in, saying "it's fine, i've got it. i fixed it" and then it popped out again XD anyways... whew... finished XD that took two hours**

**SOul: then how is it that you wrote more in two hours than you did in almost a whole year**

**ALex: -gets angry/dar/depressed look- cause i had a tough almost year**

**Kidd: NO! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAIT 8 MONTHS BEFORE UPDATING! IT'S NOT SYMMETRICAL! -spazz attack-**

**Black Star: AND WHY IS THE GREAT ME NOT IN THIS STORY YET AGAIN? DID YOU NOT PROMISE TWO CHAPTERS AGO THAT I WOULD BE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER? I LET THE LAST CHAPTER GO CAUSE YOU SEEMED DEPRESSED AND I DIDN'T WANT TO NAG, BUT THIS ONE YOU SHALL PAY! -launches himself off top of random building towards Alex-**

**Alex: aww blackstar, that's almost kinda sweet. and.. how did the random building get here?**

**Black Star: I, THE MAN WHO SHALL SURPASS GOD MADE IT APPEAR OUT OF THIN AIR!**

**ALex: yah well i can make even better things appear out of thin air**

**Black Star: AS IF! I WILL ALWAYS WIN!**

**Alex: THEN THIS IS WAR!**

**Black Star: -conjures up a skyscraper-**

**ALex: -conjures up the seattle space needle-**

**Black Star: -conjures up the statue of liberty-**

**Alex: -conjures up the twin towers-**

**Soul: HOW CAN YOU EVEN DO THAT? THOSE WERE BOMBED IN 2000!**

**Alex: i have my ways**

**Black Star: YOU SHALL NOT DEFEAT ME! -starts throwing random things at her-**

**Alex: AS IF YOU WILL WIN! -starts throwing random things at him too- **

**-random things go flying past him: desks, bags, food, books, book cases, maka, soul trying to rescue maka, maka maka chopping soul, soul going not cool, shinigami shinigami chopping spirit as he gets maka chopped by maka, soul in scyth mode, tsubaki, liz and patty, liz and patty trying to make kidd wake up with symmetrical things, honey-sempai, mori-sempai trying to save honey sempai-**

**Soul: YOU DON'T EVEN BELONG IN THIS SHOW -points at honey and mori as they leave-**

**Alex: -still throwing stuff at Black Star- remember, reviews are love, so please press the button and start typing something, even if it's whatever's on your mind. ideas and criticisms are appreciated, but no flaming please. if you want to put in a request for something in the random babble or even the story please feel free to type it up. i'll see if it fits into the story. much loves**

**Black Star: DON'T TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE ENEMY EVER! HAHA OPENING! -lunges for opening and gets a pie thrown in his face-**

**Alex: I WIN!**

**Plot Bunny: oh yes you did -evil smile, lights go out and screams are heard-**


	6. Chapter 6 Sentence

**Author's note: haha got another one up! told you i would! :)**

**Disclaimer: i I do not own soul eater, sadly. my ex oh so kindly threw this fact into my face when we broke up.**

* * *

Maka's POV

As the doors opened with a whoosh of air, my jaw dropped at what lay before me. The room I walked into was so lavish it left the other rooms in the dust. The floor—dark stained oak panels—was adorned with various fabrics, quilts, and furs that looked so soft I wanted to curl up and fall asleep in them. The walls were gray marble with veins of silver, rose quartz, and black topaz running through them.

There were three tapestries hanging from the wall directly in front of me. The one to my left was black and had an excessively vibrant blue star embroidered into it. Inside the giant electric blue star was a black star a shade darker than the background black. The tapestry next to that in the center of the room was a dark metallic gold and in the center stitched in black was the triple spiral—the Celtic symbol that represented the three stages of life: life, death, and rebirth. It was beautiful. And finally, on the end was a tapestry that was the same shade of crimson as the boy from my dreams. His face flashed in my memory as I looked at the tapestry. This crest had a scythe on it with a silver handle, the top the same crimson as the back that met with the pure black bottom curve in a zig zag pattern giving it a jagged, lethal look to it. Underneath each tapestry sat a person atop an ornate throne of ivory. Something in my mind told me to look to the right first, but I ignored it.

Under the star sat a boy who had the same eccentric blue as the tapestry that seemed to jut out in every which direction in no particular manner. He was dressed so casually when compared to his surroundings: white shorts going past his knees, black knee guards that were well worn, faded black and silver shoes with white stars on the fronts, a silver belt, a black vest that had stitches in it where it had ripped, a silver scarf, and worn black gloves. His left shoulder had a dark black star outlined on it, his green eyes danced with happiness and he wore the goofiest look on his face; it looked like he was trying to smile but he was too constipated to pull it off. If not for the graveness of the situation, I would have been rolling on the floor in laughter. Though, I did have to bite my tongue to keep the laugh in.

Looking away to keep from cracking up, I studied the boy in the direct center. The one with the beautiful Celtic symbol on it. His jet black hair, a deep contrast to his ivory skin, hung in a way that looked neat, pristine, natural, and well kept. It was obvious that he had made it symmetrical on purpose, though I once again choked back a laugh as he readjusted the strands of his hair that had three pristine white lines running through the right half, and the right half only in his otherwise perfectly symmetrical hair. Looking at the rest of him, I could tell he tried to make up from the lack of symmetry in his hair by his completely symmetrical attire. I mean, he was wearing perfectly polished black dress shoes, his black silk dress pants were pressed, as was the black dress jacket that had silver rectangles instead of buttons and running along the stitches on the shoulders. His white dress shirt went to his neck and was unblemished by any sort of stain or mark. He had a silver skull tie on that matched the two rings he wore on each middle finger. His very posture and body language said he was fine and proper, he was a man who knew his place and expected everyone else to know it too. Even his golden eyed stared down at me with disdain; I was a bug under his feet that he was debating whether to bother squashing or not. Resisting the sudden urge to find the nearest book and drive it into his skull.

Suppressing my anger, I turned to the last boy. Sitting there in yellow shoes with burgundy colored triangles at the bottom, burgundy pants, a jacket that was mustard yellow on the arms, black on the torso, and had yellow and burgundy stripes on the cuffs and neck line, and on his jacket was some logo. Looking closer, I saw it was shaped like… a soul? A SOUL! He had a SOUL right over his heart! And it looked like the souls I saw: a little circle with an little wisp at the top with eyes and a mouth. The ones that no one else could see. Did that mean… he could see souls too? Looking at his face for the first time, I felt myself take a step back as my breath sped up and my eyes widened. It was the boy with snow white hair and crimson eyes. The boy from my dreams. The boy that would die in my arms.

* * *

His name on my lips, I opened my mouth to say it, but was cut off by the boy in the center. "Maka Albarn, daughter of Spirit and Kami Albarn, you are tried for aiding and abetting a known felon, possession of stolen items, and stealing from the royal family. How do you plead?" he asked, his voice already telling me that he thought me to be guilty.

Mouth going dry, I had no idea how to respond. What he was saying (if Nygus had been correct and the books Papa had given me had been stolen) then I was guilty. But I had had no IDEA what Papa had been doing or I would have put a stop to it. Though, that probably was irrelevant. "Innocent.. I mean guilty… I mean… it's complicated…" I trailed off, nervous at my choice of words. Looking over to Soul, I looked for any semblance of understanding, any sign he knew I was innocent and would come to my rescue. But I was met with something else, something I hadn't been expecting. His face held a look of bewilderment and confusion and…. recognition? Did he recognize me? Had he dreamed of me as I had dreamed of him? Did he know he was going to die? As I opened my mouth to ask him these questions his face retreated to a stoic mask, revealing nothing even to my eyes. Not that I could pry for long, because my attention was called back towards the center boy as he spoke.

"The witness has admitted guilt!" his voice boomed as he stood from his chair. "And the punishment for such crimes is the decision of the judges. What do you say Black Star?" he asked, turning to the blue haired boy.

Smile disappearing from his face, Black Star got a thoughtful expression on his face. Finally, he said—well, more like shouted-, "I, the man who will surpass God, like her. She's got some fight to her. I say the Barrows. Kidd?" he asked, looking back over to the boy in the center.

"Death," he said instantly, causing my breath to hitch. "Crimes such as these cannot go unchecked otherwise an uprising may follow suit. Soul?"

Soul opened his mouth to answer Kidd as he looked at me with that stoic mask and I feared what might roll off his tongue. I silently prayed for a miracle to occur, right as a door opened and in walked the strangest person I had ever seen. He was cloaked in a dark robe and a mask in the shape of a skull that matched Kidd's tie and rings. It was white and where the eyes should have been all there was was black, but it wasn't intimidating looking at all. It kind of made me want to laugh. However, as he entered the room, I felt a power so strong, so deadly that I wanted to hide in the corner and break down begging for mercy. He turned to face me and as I stared into the black holes where his eyes should be, I felt my knees shaking under all the layers of my dress.

"My oh my," he said in the highest pitched, most… cute voice I had heard from a man. "If it isn't Maka-chan. Why it has been absolutely AGES since I last saw you!" he exclaimed, reminding me very much of my father. "So, how is your father doing these days? Where is Spirit-kun? There's no way he would allow his darling daughter to travel here alone now would he?"

"um…." I choked out.

"Father," Kidd interrupted, "where have you been? We are in the middle of Miss Albarn's trial."

"Her trial?" he exclaimed. "What on earth is she on trial for?" And so my situation was explained and as the story went on, his eyes narrowed and his brows—or what I thought were his brows—crinkled. "And you were unaware of the fact that these were stolen goods or the fact your father was in fact a known criminal?" he asked after a long silence.

"No sir!" I exclaimed. " I had no idea!" Finally someone was going to listen to me!

"Hm…." he said. "This is most troublesome. You are indeed right Kiddo-kun.. Punishment is necessary for the sake of harmony. We must not have another uprising…" he said, and I saw Soul flinch out of the corner of my eye. "Black Star!" he said, spinning to face the boy now looking at the boy with interest. "You said she had fire. What exactly did you mean?"

At the question, the boy practically leapt out of his seat as he came over to the floor, reenacting how he had "taken custody" of me as he talked animatedly about how I had fought when he had grabbed me, making it sound like me reacting was huge in its own. Judging from the surprise on everyone's face though, it seemed they agreed. That surprise only grew as Black Star told them how he had had ot keep me from dislocating my arm in my attempt to escape. The way he was telling it made it seem like I was a brave girl who had fought for her freedom. Verses what I had really been: a girl scared witless and reacted the only way she knew how. At the end of his over-exaggerated retelling, Shinigami clapped, Kidd rolled his eyes, and I stood there not believing any of this was really happening. Instinctively, my eyes trailed over to Soul to see his reaction, only for my eyes to meet his. He was looking at me in wonder, as if I held the secrets to the universe, as if I was the greatest mystery of all just waiting for him to solve. When he didn't look away for several long moments I became so uncomfortable I had to look away. When he looked at me like that, it was like he was slowly unraveling my defenses and breaking through to the center where all there was was a defenseless version of me.

"Well then," Shinigami began, breaking me out of my train of thought. " I believe in these circumstances Black Star is absolutely right. Turning to me, Shinigami became serious and said with so much force that despite his high voice my back straightened, "Maka Albarn, as ruler of these lands, I King Shinigami sentence you to spend time in the Barrows for as long as I deem fit. You will learn and live life as all others there do. Thus is my decision. So shall it be!" And with a giant puff of smoke, he was gone.

"Heh… the old man learned a new trick," Black Star said. "But I shall not be outdone!" he exclaimed as he scrambled up the wall and hung from the chandelier on the ceiling. He started shouting things about how he would surpass God and other things so ridiculous that for the first time sine I had set foot in the castle, I laughed.

* * *

Alex: haha finished! and it only took me three days!

Death the Kidd: why am i so conceited

Alex: cause ur from high society so u think urself noble. i mean, you're ONLY the crown prince :)

Soul: haha u seem like u have a stick up your ass Kidd

Kidd: at least i have emotions you slab of marble!

Soul: hey i'm not a glampire! (aka twilight glittering vampire)

-kidd and soul get into fight in corner-

Black Star: well i, the great black star, the man who shall surpass god, liked this chapter.

ALex: well you were only the hero of this chap really. i mean u kind of saved her. if not shinigami would have sentenced her to death and where would the story be

Black star: but of course i was the great hero!

Alex: -rolls eyes-

Tsubaki: -pops out of no where- sorry to bother you miss alexandra, but when will i be in the story?

Alex: haha soon, don't worry. there will be plenty of you and black star action in this. but i need to develop the steinxoc for a little. she's kinda based off me or at least the kick arse version of me i want to be XD

tsubaki: she sound great. oh and by the way, why have you been updating so frequently lately?

Alex: cause my plot bunny is back

Tsubaki:

ALex: alright here's the story. so basically i have a plot bunny and a muse. but my muse is kinda worthless when it comes to stories. he's more useful when it comes to drawing and stuff but anyways, my plot bunny got so pissed off at my lack of writing that he popped a blood vessel in his head and died from a stroke. so i was sitting there with a muse freaking out and my plot bunny dead. i had no idea what to write now. so i waited to see what would happen for months. nothing. then one day (incidentally the day i watched zombie world) my plot bunny came back to unlife and became a zombie plot bunny. well i got half of chapter 4 out before it had decayed so much it died again. but apparently my muse had been so horny since it had been left alone that when my female plot bunny came back to unlife they got busy and out of the carcass of my dead plot bunny zombie mommy came a little half alive half unlive plot bunny baby. turns out this is how ninjas are made. so my plot bunny has the ability to follow me to the very bottom of my subconcious, plant an idea all inception like, and make me write. so i have an awesome plot bunny, half this story planned out, some twists and turns ahead, and half the next chapter written out already. so i luv my ninja baby half zombie plot bunny muse. he's amazing and i hope he's luckier and stronger than his mother. anyways, i might not be able to update some more this week, but i might be able to. depends cause i have science olympiad this saturday and i've been procrastinating to write this story. anyways, leave it up to whether my plot bunny's inception is too strong for me to resist. love you all and till next time!

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Did You Know...

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."

The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.

Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that this was the day of the changeover.

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."

More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.

The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified was to poke someone's eye out.

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from and old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

The first television show to show a flushing toilet was Leave It to Beaver.

The McDonald's™ at Toronto's 'SkyDome' is the only McDonald's™ location that sells hot dogs.

A can of SPAM™ is opened every 4 seconds.

Plastic lawn flamingos are more numerous in the United States than real flamingos.

Whitby, Ontario has more donut stored per capita than any other place on earth.

Pinocchio was made of pine.

The largest recorded kidney stone weighed 1.36 kg.

Kidney stones range in color.

The hundred billionth Crayola crayon ever produced was Perriwinkle Blue.

An ostrich egg would take four hours to hard boil.

An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.

Chickens can't swallow while they are upside-down.

There are more chickens in the world than people.

The left leg of a chicken is more tender than the right one.

The U.S. Patent Office received over one hundred patent entries for 'Perpetual Motion Machines' each year.

The British Patent Office will not except patents for 'Perpetual Motion Machines'.

A novel with 50,000 words, non of which contained the letter 'E' was written by Ernest Wright.

Mark Twain's book 'Tom Sawyer' (1876) was the first novel to ever be written on a typewriter.

Isaac Asimovis is the only author to have a book in every major category of the Dewey-decimal system.

Cranberry Jell-O is the only kind that contains real fruit.

The Paramount™ logo contains 22 stars.

After the Mayflower was no longer needed, it was dismantled, and rebuilt as a barn.

The letters of the alphabet in order of frequency of use are: ETAISONHRDLUCMFWYPGVBKJQXZ

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A quarter has 119 grooves around the edge.

You consume one tenth (.1) calories when you lick a stamp.

Laughter is a proven way to loose weight.

The pound sign ( # ) is called an anoctothorpe.

There was once a town named '6' in West Virginia.

A donkey will sink in quick sand, while a mule will not.

Every year more people are killed by donkeys, than in aircraft crashes.

Eating lots of carrots will turn the pigment in your skin orange. (Carotene is the same substance that makes leaves turn orange in the fall)

The first word spoken on the moon was 'Okay'.

Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon with his left foot.

The average speed of Heinz™ ketchup leaving the bottle is 25 miles per year.

The most common name for a gold fish is 'Jaws'.

The shortest verse in the bible is 'Jesus Wept'. (John 11:35)

In an average day, a four year old child will ask 437 questions.

Most lipstick contains fish scales!

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigleys gum!

Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people!

Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive!

Clinophobia is the fear of beds!

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet!

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable"!

Cat's urine glows under a black-light!

The electric chair was invented by a dentist!

A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies from starvation!

It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a certain church in Omaha, Nebraska!

7% of Americans don't know the first 9 words of the American anthem, but know the first 7 of the Canadian anthem!

5% of Canadians don't know the first 7 words of the Canadian anthem, but know the first 9 of the American anthem!

Over 10,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows!

Thomas Edison, lightbulb inventor, was afraid of the dark!

Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals!

In Pacific Grove, California City Ordinance No. 352 says it is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly.


	7. Chapter 7 The Barrows

**Author's note: haha! I TOLD u i wouldn't take almost a whole year to update again! oh and i have good news for all of you who actually CARE about my life... My science olympiad team made it to... STATE! oh and i'm going to be out of town this and next weekend. so i might get an update up, but i might not. color guard is gonna be super time consuming. BUT I GET TO SKIP SCHOOL! yay!  
**

**Disclaimer: i I do not own soul eater, sadly. my ex oh so kindly threw this fact into my face when we broke up.

* * *

**

6 Months later

Maka's POV

My feet moved rhythmically, automatically. I had no need to think about it, I was just running. The motions were so familiar to me that I had no reason to think about it. I just ran, one foot right before the next. The familiar swishing of my shorts was comforting. It meant that I was doing something, even when what I was doing required no need for thinking.

"Move your ass newbie!" Russel shouted at me as he bumped my shoulder, almost toppling me over. He stood to face me, his tank for a body aimed at my still unstable legs. His blonde hair with dark brown roots was buzz cut, standing just a few centimeters tall at most. There were four stripes on the back of his neck where the hair there was shorter than the rest of his hair. Across his left cheek was a scar for which no one knew how he had gotten. Every time someone asked, his story changed. One moment it was a serial killer pulling a knife on him, the next a kishin trying to torture him before eating his soul. Standing about 6'3" and weighing in about 270 pounds, he dwarfed almost all the rest of us. He wore the standard clothing for those of us in the Barrows, aka the Hell Hole to all its inhabitants: a pair of camouflage shorts and a camo tank top. Sturdy black combat boots were recommended too. Other than that we were allowed to customize our outfits in any way we saw fit. Russel had a torn red cloth tied around his right arm. He said it was his mark of dominance, a sign that he was the boss here. And in all honesty, he was. He was the one you had to go to to get stuff from the outside. He ran all the trades, he held bribes on all the staff members, and he was the one you went to if you wanted to get items that made life in the Hell Hole just a bit more tolerable. He had been here the longest; he had had the most time to create resources. Well... almost the longest...

"Why don't you move YOUR arse brussel sprout before I stick my foot up it!" Alex growled, slipping from out of nowhere to stand between Russel and I. Looking at the two, I couldn't help but marvel at the differences in their builds. Whereas Russel was bulky, Alex was lean. She was shorter than Russel, about 5'8", and weighed no more than 140 pounds. Her mahogany brown, red hair came down to the tops of her shoulders and was cut jaggedly. But not in order to make her look tough. Simply because she didn't care enough to take the time to get a haircut and instead opted to give herself a hair cut with a pair of rusty scissors. Though it DID make her look tough. Her hair shined even when mixed with huge amounts of twigs, foliage, and dirt and it was straight as an arrow till the ends where it would curve inwards and frame her heart-shaped face. Her sun kissed light beige skin was almost flawless and she had three beauty marks in the shape of a triangle on her right cheek. Her eyes were strange. They were a deep chocolate color when in normal light, but the lighter the room would get, the more of a golden hue they would become. The harder her heart pounded, the more prominent the blacks in her eyes would become. Like when in a fight her eyes would look almost entirely black. She was well-endowed, easily a size D. But don't let that fool you; she was deadly in a fight. Her body was lean and made for stealth. She could move like water and was as hard to catch as smoke. If anyone in camp was asked who would win in a fight, Alex or Russel, we would all, if we were honest with ourselves, say Alex. It was a known fact that she could take him down. He knew she could, I knew she could, and most importantly, she knew she could. She made it obvious every time she looked at him, eyes going dark brown and just slightly narrowed as she stared at him in a manner that seemed like she was calculating how exactly she would take him down. In fact, one time in the middle of a heated discussion where they had been bickering amongst themselves, slinging threats and insults back and forth, she had looked him straight in the eyes, gave him the most dazzling smile I had seen her have before, and told him exactly what she would like to do to him.

"Russel. You are a piece of shiznits who doesn't even belong on this earth," she began, her voice sweet like an innocent child, "and you, for reasons I can't even comprehend, seem to think you are in charge. But I swear, tell me one more time to kiss your arse and you're going to get a knee in the crotch, then as you bend down in pain, an elbow in the spine. Then as you arch your back, you'll be met with my fist for an uppercut. After that, as your head snaps back up, I'll grab your shoulders and you'll get brought down to the floor. After that, a kick to the ribs before that foot goes and stomps your man parts, then the next foot will stomp you straight in the solar plexus, then the first leg will stomp into your arm and break your bone. Then, I'll twist your broken arm until you're screaming on the floor and writhing in agony. After that, I'll step on your wind pipe till your face turns red and then you die from lack of oxygen. Then your dead body will be dragged away and I'll use your flesh as bait for catching some game. When you finally have no more flesh and all that remains is your bones, I'll sharpen those and turn them into throwing knives," she finished, her smile growing bigger and bigger as she all but jumped with joy at her own words. Throughout her story, Russel's face had gotten paler and paler until he looked sickly white. With that, Alex had turned around and walked away, leaving Russel standing there as he processed everything he had just said. When I had caught up to Alex later I had found her busting up laughing as she repeatedly kept asking me ":Did you see his FACE?"

At the memory, I couldn't help but to laugh. Russel turned to me and glared, causing my laugh to catch in my throat. "You watch your back newbie. Alex ain't always gonna be there to protect your scrawny ass," he growled as his baby blue eyes shot daggers at me. Alex glared at him and did that cat hiss thing she had gotten down to an art. Seriously, as in so perfect she and a cat had gotten into a hiding fight. And she had won. Russel took a visible step back before he growled deep in his chest that sounding like that of a rabid dog. They stood there, glaring at each other, for a few seconds before Russel took off, continuing his run until he finished the last mile and rejoined his crew at Cabin #4 (or as Alex liked to call it, the Testosterone Zone).

See, of the past 6 months I had been here, the only women in the Barrows were Alex and I. All the other tenants here were giant men built like Russel and with the same award-winning attitude. This camp had been built for people like them: murderers, rapists, pedophiles, serial killers, and terrorists. Everyone had a past and it normally wasn't pretty. Stealing a book didn't seem that bad in comparison. That's why I hadn't told anyone. The one time I had asked Alex what she had done to get in here, she got a dark expression on her face and told me to leave it be in such a way that I knew if I asked again she would kill me, friend or not.

"You okay goldie locks?" Alex asked me when I just stood there, thinking. I tended to do that a lot. Nodding my head, we smiled at each other before an official came up and ordered us to keep running. You see, an average day in the Barrows was somewhat like a Spartan training camp. You got one serving of tasteless gruel in the morning when you were woken up. The gruel was just the synthetic mixture of all the nutrients and amino acids the body needs. But it's as appealing as dirt. Not that it mattered much, most of us were so used to the stuff we didn't give a care. Those of us who were new enough to actually care generally threw it up during the 18 mile run. By 9 o'clock we were expected to be back or else we would be shot and killed. After that, we were shipped off somewhere different every day for survival training. Basically during survival training we were thrown in a situation where it was life or death. Like just yesterday we were thrown into a desert so hot, dehydration kicked in within about an hour. Another hour and you'd be dead. After survival training, the officials would drive us back to camp and we'd get lunch. Another plateful of gruel. At the end of lunch, the officials would open the doors to the back of the mess hall. There would be a huge line of food like potatoes, chicken, green beans, rolls, etc. There would be a free for all and you'd grab as much food as possible. Then you'd throw your plate of food into a trashcan that you'd hide somewhere on the camp in order to not have it stolen. You had five minutes to hide your stuff and then you'd have to be shipped off to an arena. The locations would vary, never being the same for more than three days. Basically, you and a partner—if you chose to have one—would be given permission to choose any weapon of your choice and then you would be turned loose. You would have to kill the opposing team in order to win. The more kills you got, the more support you got. Medical treatments, extra rations, and better clothing were provided by sponsors. To get sponsors you had to have kills. The higher number of kills you had, the more sponsors you got. Currently, the top killer was Alex followed closely by Russel. I had no idea how long they had been here to get the amount of kills they had and the only time I had asked Alex she had laughed and said, "That's irrelevant. Let's just say that the Barrows are the closest thing to home I have." After that I had stopped asking. Unlike with me, when Alex said to drop something, you listened. Cause unlike me, the newbie, Alex was not to be trifled.

It was obvious when she fought. I mean sure, I was actually pretty good. The past 6 months had turned me from little village girl to a fighter. Sure I could still get my ass kicked big time, but most of the camp was actually on an equal level as me. Especially when I had a scythe in my hands. But Alex… Alex had saved me more times than I could count. I would have never been able to be here if not for her. She moved with such grace, as if fighting was another form of dancing. She knew all the pressure points of the body and she knew exactly how to hit them in order ot hurt, paralyze, and even kill. For her, each block was also a strike and each strike a block. She seemed to know how to use each and every weapon the officials could give out and she used them in ways that had even them confused. And when she got into the fight and her blood started pumping, her eyes would turn black. Not just a deep brown. No, a pure black. And her eyes would narrow slightly, giving her a rather feline look. I had only seen her like that once before, when she had done a solo fight with Jon. Jon wasn't like all the other guys here. He apparently came to camp shortly after Russel and had been the first person to squeeze their way into Alex's life. All others before him had died trying. You could say he was cute, around 6', 230 pounds. He had chocolate brown hair and eyes to match. He, like Alex, was lean and fit. Unlike all the other guys here, I had never seen him trying to bulk up. In fact, he seemed to enjoy life as long as he was with Alex. To say he was in love with her was an understatement. I had never seen such pure, honest love, such strong devotion, such dedication to one person. It made me think of how much I wished my parents had been like that. Oh well. Basically, when they had had their fight, everyone had sat down to watch. I had no clue what the huge deal was, Jon wasn't a big shot on the kills ranks, but when I saw them fight I understood.

I had never seen Alex have such a hard time. They had moved together, perfectly, as if they both knew exactly what the other was going to do, even before they themselves knew it. It was like a perfectly staged dance as they weaved through each other's attacks and fought for the upper hand, though neither one got it. In the end the officials had had to break them apart. Neither had been able to wound the other severely and they had fought for over 2 hours. When they heard the bell signaling the end of the fight, they had froze before both collapsing too the ground in a heap of laughter. Then Alex playfully punched his arm and he ruffled her hair- something only he would be allowed to do- as they commented on each other's fighting. They had looked so happy compared to the scary expressions they had worn as they fought. Anyways, back to what I was saying.

Ummm... oh yeah, after combat part of the day, we would have dinner. Guess what that was. Yah, the food we had thrown into the trash can. So after combat we would be shipped back to camp and could either eat dinner in the mess hall or in our cabins. Generally Alex, Jon, ad I would eat in our cabin. After dinner we retired to our cabins and it was lights out by midnight. Then, sometime in the middle of the night, we were woken up for the last trial of the day: the essay. When we were all woken up by a siren going off on the overhead, we were to meet in the mess hall. There we would be given a topic of which we had to write an essay, minimum of four thousand words. Then when done, our essays would be given to the officials whose entire jobs were to grade our essays. The better written the essay, the earlier you got woken up for breakfast and the run the next day. Sure it meant less sleep, but it gave you a better chance of surviving the next morning. I was always the first released, then Alex, then Jon. I knew Jon ad Alex paced themselves for me and I really appreciated it. Their useless banter made the run more tolerable and sometimes even enjoyable. Especially when she was in such a good mood that she would sing. I had no idea where she got these songs or what her mysterious box with the detachable chords she put in her ears was, I only knew songs came from the box she called an 'MP3' player through the cables into her ears. at night she would pull out a crank like thing and crank it. she said the MP3 player ran off electricity, which the crank thing generated. Of course, this morning Alex had been too worried about the fact that Jon had been called in for a meeting with his sponsors sometime between the essay and breakfast.

As we finished the run, Alex and I were about to head to our cabin when we were pulled aside by our instructor, Matt. "Maka Albarn, Alexandra Castillo," he began, "your sponsors are here for a meeting. you are excused from the rest of the day's activities in order to prepare yourselves. Miss Castillo, you will aid Miss Albarn and guide her through the routine. That is all," he said as he walked away, heading to the vans where the rest of the tenants stared at us before they were driven away to the survival training course. "Who do you think it is Alex?" I asked as she started walking us away from the empty parking lot. When no response came, I looked at her and saw her face had gone a sickly shade of whitish green. Regaining her composure, she turned to me, shook her head 'no', and continued walking. But the way she was walking had a stiffness to it that scared me. It made her look like she was scared or something... so I had to check. Closing my eyes, I focused so as to see past the veil and look at her soul. When I opened my eyes, I was shocked. Her soul was so BIG! I wondered how such power could be contained in such a small body. This was more power than she was letting out during camp, A wave of confusion swept over me…. Her soul was purple... and there were wisps of black sailing around it. What were they? I'd never seen anything like it. Where were they coming from? And then I saw it. Right at the bottom left corner of her soul was a crack in her soul that was letting the wisps escape. I tried to take a better look, but my concentration was broken as Alex turned the corner and entered the washroom.

The washroom was unisex; the men and women sections were combined. So Alex and I only used the washroom when the others were out or asleep- which didn't happen very often. Sure we could take them, but fights outside supervision are forbidden. Being caught meant you would be subject to lashes and sleeping outside in the Gutter. The Gutter is a hole about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It's closed off on the top with locked metal bars and the walls are covered in graffiti and some sort of slimy green stuff. It gets to about 0 degrees Celsius down there at night and it sucks to sleep in there. Of course, Alex had gotten her fair share of lashes and spent many nights out in the cold.

"Maka, we're supposed to bath. Stop spacing out and get your stuff!" she shouted as she tugged me into locker rooms. The bath house wasn't anything special; there was a locker room where you could dress and undress, there was a storage room where there were bathing supplies, and there was a room where all there was were white tiled walls and eight shower heads jutting out of the wall. There was hardly enough room for five people, let alone eight, and there was no privacy. In the supply closet in the corner the staff had opened the door for us. Inside were the essentials: shampoo, conditioner, and soap. Alex let me go and walked, actually, more like skipped, into the room, went to the corner and reached behind the pile of toilet paper, and pulled out a bundle. Then, she skipped away and went into the bath room, leaving me alone to browse amongst all the different toiletries. I heard the shower turn on and my mind began to wander as I aimlessly searched through the items. I began to think about what I had seen earlier when looking into Alex's soul. Most souls I saw were shades of blue or orange. But Alex's had been purple. As in a bright, vibrant purple. Except for the black that is. What exactly were those black wisps? And how were they coming from that crack in her soul? Better yet, how did she GET a crack in her soul?

"Well are you just going to stand there or are you going to come in?" Alex said as she looked at me over her shoulder. I realized I had been standing there, fully clothed, like an idiot. Blushing at my stupidity, I ran over to the lockers and undressed. Grabbing a towel from the chair, I wrapped it around me before entering the shower room. Alex was in the far corner next to the only window, rinsing the shampoo from her hair. Opening the bag of stuff I had grabbed, I pulled out lavender scented shampoo reverently. Generally when showering we only hot a bar of soap that would turn into powder if it fell. To have any shampoo was unusual, let alone a scented one. Opening the bottle, I breathed in the familiar scent of lavender, my muscles relaxing reflexively. My mind wandered to thoughts of my meadow as I slowly scrubbed the shampoo into my hair. In a few weeks it would be early spring and the flowers in my meadow would be in full bloom. Oh how I missed my meadow.

Rinsing my hair, I heard the faucet next to me turn off. Alex wrung out her hair before she turned to leave. As she left the room, the back of her towel slipped down to the small of her back. What I saw had me stepping back in disbelief. All over her back were faint lines, just barely visible, from the many lashings she had taken. But that wasn't the msot shocking. What had me step back was what was on her left shoulder. On her left shoulder that was always covered by her shirt as a black outline of a star.

* * *

**Alex: well i finished. didn't take too long in my opinion**  
**Soul: yah well it would have been sooner if you weren't so slow**  
**Alex: HEY I HAD TO RUN A 5K THIS WEEKEND! and i wanted 1 day to hang out with my friends. i'm just a teenage girl after all. i'm not a machine.**  
**Death the kidd: so you aren't a chobits**  
**ALex: nope, i just like the show**  
**Kidd: i do too. chi's symmetrical**  
**Alex: very nice kidd.**  
**Black Star:... Wait... SHE'S GOT THE SAME TATOO AS ME? WTF? IS SHE FROM THE STAR CLAN TOO?**  
**Alex: maaaaaaaybe... anyways you wonderful reviewers you, i have a question for you all. who wants to help me decide who alex should be paired with? as the story progresses, i'll be reading the suggestions of my reviewers to see who they think she should be with and then i'll choose my favorite. i'm not saying right now, cause well u don't know much about her so far, but as the story goes on, please feel free to voice your opinions. I'm thinking it's either going to be Jon, Stein, or Kidd. Black Star is iffy just cause i kinda think they would be more brother sister sorta thing and i like star with tsubaki... anyways just leave me a line! thanks!  
Black Star: DON'T IGNORE ME!

* * *

**

**"There's no half-singing in the shower, you're either a rock star or an opera diva."**  
**Josh Groban **  
**"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."**  
** Robert McCloskey **  
**"I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said to me was "You'll never find anyone like me again!" I'm thinking, "I should hope not! If I don't want you, why would I want someone like you.""**  
**"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."**  
** Oscar Wilde **  
**"I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect."**  
** Oscar Wilde quotes **  
**"Love is like a booger. You keep picking at it until you get it, then wonder what to do with it."**  
** ariel**  
**"Dogs have Owners, Cats have Staff."**  
** lokiandari**  
**"I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works."**  
** Oscar Wilde **  
**"It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"I have met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you're twenty minutes."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh - at yourself."**  
** Ethel Barrymore**  
**"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"By persistently remaining single a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation."**  
**Oscar Wilde**  
**"This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot."**  
** Oscar Wilde**  
**"Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film."**


End file.
